marketing strategy

“Hi Mark. You don’t know me. We’ve never connected but I read your blog every day and have bought all your books. I have several of your posts hanging on bulletin boards around our office and we frequently use your material in our meetings and client presentations. You’ve made a big impact on me and I just wanted to let you know.”

This man is clearly an important member of my online audience. He’s buying my books and transmitting my content on a regular basis. But he’s not active on social media so I’ve never heard of him before. No tweets, posts, or blog comments. In fact, there is no social media analytics program on earth that would reveal his name to me because he is not engaging with me in a public way.

This provokes an interesting question: How many of the most important customers and potential customers out there can you really identify through social analytics programs? Here’s one possible answer: 2 percent.

Does that seem surprising? Read on.

Most sharing takes place offline.

What percent of all word of mouth content transmission occurs online? 50 percent? 60 percent? Maybe even higher than that?

We tend to over-estimate this number because the online version of word of mouth transmission is so easy to see and record for measurement purposes. Social media provides such an intoxicating database of tweets, mentions, and posts that it is easy to rely to heavily on these symbols of content transmission.

But it gets more interesting.

A number of studies show that about 70 percent of social content sharing occurs through mechanisms we never see through analytics like email, private messages, and text messaging. This is called “dark social media” because our content is moving but we’ll never know it because it’s behind a secure firewall.

So we only capture in our analytics 30 percent of that 7 percent that is not offline word of mouth, which equals (drum roll please) … 2 percent.

Does this make sense? Could it be true that we can only identify 2 percent of the people who are sharing our content?

Pick any blogger who has been around for awhile and ask them what percent of their audience comments on the blog — they’ll say it is about 2 percent. Coincidence?

Facebook recently reported that less than 5 percent of the fans of a company page typically share the content online. In the same ballpark.

Marketing to the online audience elite

The precise number can be debated but I think we can agree that there is a massive, silent audience out there we may never know. In my mind, I am seeing many, many people reading this blog post (maybe you), nodding in agreement and thinking “Well, he doesn’t know I’m out here!”

I think this poses some interesting questions about marketing to an online audience.

We are only measuring the loud people, a vast minority of those who love us. What is the danger of forming a marketing plan around a group that is probably less than 5 percent of the total audience?

We cannot mistake “quiet” for irrelevant. There is a huge number of passionate fans out there who just never tell us they’re passionate fans! They are a powerful group.

If we can’t accurately measure our content audience through normal analytics channels, what CAN we do to more accurately know who’s out there sharing our content in some way?

What’s your view? How do you really know your online audience?

Illustration courtesy Flickr CC and Ruth Raymond. Book link is an affiliate link.

Sometimes in the neon-hyped, guru-saturated social media world we overlook a simple truth.

Your goal is not to create conversations.

It’s not having the most friends, followers and Likes.

It’s not about betting it all on the hope of a viral video.

You know what business is really about? Selling more stuff for more money and beating your competitor’s brains in. Figuratively, of course.

And sometimes you need some good old advertising (gasp) to do that.

I was recently consulting with a B2B company that is at the beginning of their social media journey. They were having some early successes and wanted to do more.

One potential project was a new product launch. Their instinct was to push this with social media and they were visibly shocked when I told them no, that was not the direction to go. Why?

1) This was an entirely new product. In fact it was an entirely new market niche. Their customers were not searching for this product because it was newly-invented. We needed to get this in front of people in a reliable and repetitive way to let them learn about what the thing was about.

2) Speed was of the essence. They knew their larger competitors would create their own products for this niche within a year. My customer had to get the message out fast and dominate the mindshare of their customers. That is not easy to do with a social media presence of zero.

3) They really had no social media heritage to build on. They were still finding their audience and content footing and were not even sure their executive-level B2B customers were connecting to them in the social space.

In other words, they were trying to launch a new product in the social media space from a standing start.

We had a decision to make. On a limited budget and in a limited timeframe, how do we educate our potential customers and build a brand name in this market NOW?

We needed massive awareness and fast. We needed advertising. Trade magazines, direct mail, sponsorship at industry conferences. Sure there can be a social component at some point, but in this situation, advertising still works.

This seems so obvious but when I see blog posts and journal articles describing advertising as a failure in this mad rush to surround our customers with social media content, I thought it was appropriate to simply say, advertising still works … really well. : )

Comments?

This post was brought to you by IBM for Midsize Business and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM’s Midsize Insider. Dedicated to providing businesses with expertise, solutions and tools that are specific to small and midsized companies, the Midsize Business program provides businesses with the materials and knowledge they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

I am the founder of a sporting goods company in the Pacific Northwest. We occupy (and dominate) a small but profitable extreme sport niche.

We are certainly a conversational company with passionate fans and we have worked hard to engage and build a social media audience to the point where we have 13,000 fans on Facebook. In late 2012 we hired a full-time community manager and content producer. This is an extraordinary step and a huge commitment to content marketing for a company with only 17 employees!

In the last 12 months our reach on Facebook has declined by 90 percent. Despite spending MORE on higher quality video, our views have stagnated. Engagement on our blog is down by 50 percent even though we are investing in more consistent posting and highlighting great customer stories and adventures.

The more we spend on content marketing, the worse the problem gets it seems. Can you help us?

William B.

There could be many reasons behind this fellow’s problem. Competitive activity shifts. Customers turning to new social media channels. An ineffective community manager.

But more than likely, there is at least one systemic factor behind this decline — there is an increasing amount of competing content in his market niche. A strategy that worked last year is not good enough today. William’s decline in Facebook reach is extreme but not unusual. According to AgoraPulse, From July 2013 to July 2014, 71 percent of company Facebook pages had a loss in organic reach of at least 30 percent, a cataclysmic decline.

Why?

According to Facebook, there is simply too much stuff. The average Facebook user now has the opportunity to see nearly 2,000 Facebook posts a day. The company has no alternative but to ratchet the news stream back.

“Overload” versus “density”

A year ago I coined this term “Content Shock” to describe our era of particularly difficult marketing. Content marketing works well … and as more and more people figure that out, market niches become flooded with higher-quality content alternatives for the same consumer attention.

It is important to know that this business challenge before us is NOT created by “information overload.” It’s defined by “information density.” There is a big difference.

More information (“overload”) is actually great news for consumers. The competition for attention will force better content and more choice. We now have the accumulated knowledge of the human race at our finger tips and that is a good thing, even if it might seem overwhelming.

But unless the amount of content saturation is low in your market, trying to cut through this information tsunami (“density” – the business side of the trend) is going to be a significant challenge for many businesses — like the sporting goods company in the letter above. Without changing something dramatically and NOW, the effectiveness of William’s content marketing efforts are declining week by week. He is basically throwing money away.

And it’s going to get worse.

The problem intensifies

Research from CMI/Marketing Profs and others shows that business content “production” is going into hyper drive in 2015 and beyond. In fact, between now and 2020, the amount of information on the Internet is expected to increase by 500% (and some experts believe that number is conservative). So let’s get our heads around that fact. If you can imagine the vastness of the Internet, in the next few years, we are going to have five of those.

If you think getting your message through is difficult now, well … fasten your seat belt.

Most marketers “get it.” The Content Shock topic has been featured in dozens of podcasts, webinars and conferences. There were a remarkable number of blog posts written about the subject — more than 700 so far. And of that total, less than 10 posts had an outright dismissive response to the primary position of the article — information density will dramatically impact the nature of business competition. If you are actively working in marketing today, you know that Content Shock is not a theory. You’re already fighting through it every day.

While the idea of Content Shock might have seemed provocative or even controversial a year ago, it is mainstream thinking today. If you look at the major themes of the traditional “forecast posts” we see at this time of year, there are three themes stated nearly everywhere:

Paying to get our content viewed

A need to focus on new content distribution strategies

A move away from crowded places like Facebook and into less noisy channels

All of these trends are predictable consequences of increasing information density and Content Shock.

And that brings us to today.

The business imperative of finding a way to claw our way through information density is not only real, it is the most profound and important trend in the marketing profession — today, and for years to come.

Information density is like a hammer pounding on the marketing industry anvil. It will forge entirely new platforms. new advertising models, new content types. As we strain against the winds of the content hurricane before us, it will influence the nature of our jobs, the skills we need to compete, our budgets, and most certainly our strategies.

This is neither good nor bad. It simply is.

You can see this as exciting or you can see this as depressing. Just don’t think it is OK to stay the same.

Is content marketing still about content?

A common notion in our field is “Great content will always rise to the top.”

This is a comforting thought and something that was certainly true in the early, less-crowded days of the web.

Perhaps it is still true today if you are fortunate and your business resides in an established and dominant position in an industry niche (in essence, creating Content Shock for your competitors!).

But for most of us toiling in the marketing trenches every day, we know this mantra rings hollow in 2015.

Great content does not necessarily rise to the top. Great content is merely the starting point.

It is the table stake to get us into the game.

Content Ignition

Content sitting idly on a website — even superb content — has as much value as the world’s greatest movie script locked in a cold, dark vault. It is doing nothing. It means nothing. It is certainly not rising to the top or creating measurable value for our organizations.

The conversation in 2015 and beyond must be, “what now?” What comes after “great content?” How do we IGNITE our excellent work to cut through this intimidating world of information density? How do we become more clever, more resourceful, more strategic in the distribution of that investment so that people actually SEE it, ENGAGE with it, and SHARE it in a way that creates business value?

If Content Shock defined the marketing conversation in 2014, “IGNITION” must be the keystone idea moving forward.

Content marketing for most businesses is not just about the content any more. It’s about the content ignition.

Don’t just write. Ignite.

Let’s move forward and explore this conversation together in 2015 shall we?

This has been a great year for business books and I wanted to highlight a few of my personal favorites if you’re looking to spend some time getting up to speed with some authoritative voices in the field. These are “newish” books … I’ve been catching up myself after a busy year!

One of my favorite business books in recent years, Wharton Professor Jonah Berger uses real research to explore what ignites ideas and content both online and off. Rich in ideas with some great story-telling. Contagious starts where Gladwell’s Tipping Point ends.

I was a little late to the party on this one but found this book by Jeffery Rohrs to be highly relevant in a world where content is simply a starting point. Very worthwhile paying attention to this experienced marketer and superb writer as he pins down key ideas of building an actionable audience of “joiners.”

Ted Wright is one of the most inventive and captivating marketers out there. He has contributed to several consumer revolutions in the U.S.–including the resurgence of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Chocolate Milk, and products for companies like Bissell, Intuit, AT&T, and Intel. It’s not just a book. It’s a marketing adventure.

Disclosures: All books and images are affiliate links. Gini Dietrich did some paid work for me in 2014. I did a paid webinar for Ann’s company Marketing Profs in 2014. Glen Gilmore is on the faculty of Rutgers University, where I teach. I received free review copies of most of these books.

Subscribe to {Grow}

Welcome to {grow}

You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark Schaefer